P CHIDAMBARAM ASSURES INDIA
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India insulated from US crisis: Chidambaram
Published on Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 15:04, Updated on Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 17:34 in Business section
Tags: P Chidambaram, GDP , New Delhi
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New Delhi: Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday assured that Indian banks are insulated from the financial crisis in US and said there is no major cause for concern.
He, however, quickly added that there would be some credit crunch in the coming days after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.
"The credit crunch in rest of the world will impact credit availability in Indian markets but there is no cause for any alarm that any Indian bank is vulnerable. Indian banks are insulated and there is no reason for any failures. Our banks are very strong and public sector banks do not have any exposure to Lehman Brothers," Chidambaram said on Thursday.
The Finance Minister also maintained that the GDP will grow between 8-9 per cent during the Financial Year 2008-09.
He also clarified that if there is credit crisis, the government will step in provide funding.
Commenting denied that the financial bailout of insurance giant American Insurance Group, Inc. (AIG) could have any impact on the company's joint venture with Tata in India.
He said that Tatas have clarified to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and assured that all payment obligations of Tata-AIG will be made.
Tatas own 74 per cent in the joint venture while AIG holds the remaining 26 per cent.
Chidambaram also declined to comment on the rupee-dollar exchange rates and said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was the regulator and would take appropriate steps if and when needed.
After Chidambaram's assurance markets rebounded quite sharply. Sensex which plunged over five per cent in early trade on sell-off in overseas markets has recovered and is now trading over 13,000.
Nifty is also back in green and trading near the 4000-mark.
On commodity front gold prices jumped 11 per cent, the maximum one-day climb in 26 years. Gold prices shot up by Rs 1,000 to Rs 12,915 per 10 gram in Delhi bullion market in opening trade on Thursday.
Oil prices, too, climbed by $6 a barrel - the second largest one-day surge on record on Wednesday.
After trading at $91.36, US light crude oil prices climbed up to $97.16 a barrel and then shed $1.04 to $96.12 a barrel by 0440 GMT.
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So-called free market is a hoax. Even the primary education in economics teaches that the essential elements of a free
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Mr PC seems to be living far from the reality.. this was proved when the inflation kept of rising and
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This is the mistake which other countries have done.In a free market government does not have any role in propping
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No one is discussing the causes of this crisis as if this is a necessari evil of the new economic
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Dear Sir
This Finance Minister is perhaps the worst that we had in the history of Independence India.
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